By Steve Lansdale
Senior writer / editor
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Texas women’s basketball team rallied from 13 points down in the third quarter to take a four-point lead with two minutes remaining, but the Longhorns could not hang on, and fell to No. 19/20 West Virginia, 68-63, Sunday at WVU Coliseum.
The loss dropped UT’s season record to 9-6 overall, and 1-2 in Big 12 games. West Virginia improved to 13-1 overall, and has won all three of its conference games.
Guard Sug Sutton hit [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]six of her 12 field goal attempts to lead the Texas offense with 18 points, while center Charli Collier added 11 points and seven rebounds. Forward Joyner Holmes had a team-high 10 rebounds and came within a point of a double-double.
Texas led by a point with 44 seconds left, but WVU guard Kysre Gondrezick followed her missed free throw by canning a three-pointer to give her team the lead for good. The Longhorns went ice-cold at the end, hitting just one of their final eight shots and just one basket in the final 2:38. Texas played for the high-percentage shots in the waning moments, until the score dictated that they start shooting from behind the arc. She said she was more concerned about the way her team played for more than a half than she was about the shots taken in the final moments.
“You never want to say it was all because of one play, but Big-12 games are going to come down to possessions,” Aston said. “I knew that needing a three at the end was going to be tough because of their switching defense knows how to handle that situation. I thought we did the right thing by taking the aggressive two, which we got fouled on the possession before. But at some point, if you need a three you’re going to have to shoot a three – so you can’t get yourself in that situation.
“But the way we played for two, almost two and one-half quarters, is more the reason. I mean, you can’t show up and play like that against a team like West Virginia … and credit to them for being ready to play, because we weren’t.”
Aston stopped short of saying the game was decided in the sequence of Gondrezick’s missed free throw and the rebound that led to her go-ahead three-pointer, but acknowledged that
West Virginia guard Tynice Martin led both teams with 23 points; Gondrezick added 21 for the Mountaineers.
“Credit West Virginia for coming ready to play and for finishing,” Aston said. “I thought we made a good run and changed the game somewhat with some more energy off of our bench. They made more plays down the stretch.”
Each team turned the ball over 19 times, but the Mountaineers were more efficient with the Longhorns’ mistakes, outscoring UT in points off turnovers, 20-13.
UT now returns home to host Texas Tech at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Frank Erwin Center in a game that will be broadcast nationally on the Longhorn Network.
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